Britons are having to cover the cost of mistakes made by blundering lorry drivers who are colliding with bridges in the country each day.

New figures released by Network Rail said there were almost 2,000 cases last year of HGV drivers misjudging the height of their vehicle and smashing into rail infrastructures - which works out at an average of five incidents every day.

Not only does it cause massive delays for both rail passengers and other motorists, it also costs the tax payer a staggering £23million in damages and delays. That's roughly £11,500 each time a lorry careers into a bridge.

Bridge bashes means big repair bills: National Rail said five lorries crash into low bridges each day in Britain. This bridge near Ely, Cambridgeshire, has been hit 113 times in the last eight years

National Rail said bridge strikes peak in October and November, with around 10 incidents every day across Britain, partly down to the clocks changing and the increase in the number of deliveries ahead of Christmas.

The bridge suffering the most collisions is on Stuntney Road in Ely, Cambridgeshire, which has been hit an incredible 113 times since 2009.

Next on the list of most-shunted bridges is on Kenworthy Road in Homerton, east London, with 99 strikes over the same period followed by a bridge on Thurlow Park Road in Tulse Hill, south-east London, with 92 strikes.

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On average, each bridge strike causes two hours of delays to train services - and potentially more for motorists stuck in jams caused by fumbling lorry drivers.

According to Network Rail's research, 43 per cent of lorry drivers admit to not knowing the size of their vehicle. It also uncovered that 52 per cent of HGV drivers don't take low bridges into account when planning their journeys.

Average repair bills to fix battered bridges are £13,500, with the taxpayer covering the majority of each smash.

Some 43% of lorry drivers questoined said they didn't know the size of their vehicle. This lorry became stuck under a bridge in Cardiff

Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy, who used to drive double decker buses in London, said: 'Size does matter when you're a professional driver in a heavy vehicle.

'Not knowing the size of your vehicle or load could lead to a serious accident, and the loss of your licence.

'Every incident creates potential delays for tens of thousands of passengers and potential costs for taxpayers, and this is happening multiple times a day.

'It's only a matter of time before road or rail users are killed as a result of this carelessness.'

Network Rail has launched a campaign urging drivers and haulage companies to be more aware of low bridges.

It is also fitting steel beams to the structures it has identified as being high-risk bridges, based on previous stats.

It said the most incidents occur between 10am and 11am, but continue all day until around 6pm.

This oversized lorry was pictured getting jammed under a bridge in Dover. There were almost 2,000 cases of HGVs hitting bridges in the last year

A incident near Sandwell Station in the West Midlands. The damage caused by a lorry hitting a bridge costs an average of £13,500 to repair, Network Rail said

Sir Peter said: 'We need professional HGV drivers and their operator employers to get behind and support this campaign to eradicate bridge bashing, which reaches epidemic levels at this time of year.'

David Pickering, chief operating officer at infrastructure firm Eddie Stobart, said: 'We are pleased to be supporting Network Rail's campaign as we have worked really hard to highlight the importance of our drivers knowing the height of their vehicles.

'As well as carefully planning routes to avoid low bridges, we carry out manual vehicle checks at the beginning of every journey which requires the driver to adjust the trailer height on a measurement in the cab.'

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